I haven’t posted much lately as I’ve been writing another novel, while promoting Beer Run II (now out on Amazon, please buy). The creative juices have been all invested in the new novel.

Another thing that happened is I decided to give up alcohol for Lent. Maybe I thought I needed to imbibe a little less. Maybe I needed to give up a little more this year. Then, I thought that maybe I needed to watch out for my health a little bit more. Who knows? But I did my 40 days without any beer, wine, or liquor (Technically 45 since I maintained abstinence on Sundays and Sundays don’t count as part of Lent. Also, I broke my fast one day early on Holy Saturday to celebrate). What was the experience like?

First, it really wasn’t that difficult. For all the people who have accused me of being an alcoholic, I’ve had one response: I just like the taste of beer. Well two responses. The other is that I’m a functional alcoholic. Turns out the first part was right, at least. I don’t know how functional I am, drunk or sober. The one thing I really missed was the taste of beer, and this desire was ameliorated by the expanding variety of non-alcoholic beer in the world.

A word on that: non-alcoholic beer is actually getting to be pretty good. This was a surprise to me because when I was growing up, non-alcoholic beer was a joke. Of course, I’m American, so when I was growing up, beer in general was kind of a joke. It’s not like Busch Light NA was that much worse than Busch Light. But brewers really are getting better at their trade, and near beer is approximating the taste of real beer better and better every day. Not quite there but getting close. If you are interested in it yourself, I would recommend Sierra Nevada’s hop infused sparkling water and their Ale Trail Beer. BrewDog is also pretty good, as is Guinness’s new attempt at alcohol free stout.

Another side note: do not try non-alcoholic wine. Every non-alcoholic wine I tried tasted like it was made in the bottom of a convicted felon’s toilet. You can skip that one. You aren’t missing anything. Maybe in a few years someone will find a way to make non-alcoholic wine that tastes good, but clearly brewers are ahead of vintners in this regard. Right now, non-alcoholic wine tastes like my uncle’s homemade wine, only it won’t make you hallucinate if you have too much.

Second thing, I noticed no real difference in how I felt on a day-to-day basis. This was for both good and bad. The absence of alcohol in my life did not leave me feeling stressed out every day, which was a real concern for me going in because I’m an attorney with two young kids at home. On the other hand, I didn’t really feel like my health got any better. If anything, I probably gained weight because I started snacking more, which I really shouldn’t be doing during Lent.

I guess that leads me to one of the things about alcohol I actually missed, being able to go out and celebrate something. Food really doesn’t do that for me in this regard. Beer really just hits the spot when you need to reward yourself for getting through a tough day, particularly a high-class beer like a good barleywine or a triple IPA.

On the plus side, I didn’t feel as much guilt if I cracked open a non-alcoholic beer a little earlier in the evening right after work. My wife generally doesn’t like the smell of beer, and I try to start late at night if I’m imbibing. One of these things is ameliorated by non-alcoholic beer. My wife still doesn’t like the smell, but I feel better having a non-alcoholic beer at 5:30 with dinner.

Why not give it up completely? Other than the fact that it would be awkward to become a teetotaler after writing a book called Beer Run, I just enjoy beer. Is it good for you? No, but a lot of great things in life aren’t good for you. Cheese and cured meats. Rare steaks. French fries. If I gave them all up, I could live another ten years, which I would mostly spend drooling in a nursing home my children refuse to visit because it smells. No thanks. I’ll just have fun and let my heart explode at 70. Doctors may lecture me, but the good people at the CBO trying to figure out how to make social security work will probably send me a thank you card.

By the way, now that I’ve got two books, I probably need to promote them a little different. Here’s a link to Beer Run: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLSVRZN5

Here’s a link to Beer Run II: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1FWB32/

Here’s a link to Solstice Publishing: Solstice Publishing Home (solsticeempire.com)